Year-End Newsletter 2024
As 2024 comes to a close, the IIP remains as committed as ever to supporting forward-thinking prosecutors in their work to promote justice and safety for each and every member of their communities. As local prosecutors have faced unprecedented scrutiny and challenges, the IIP has worked tirelessly with our partners nationwide to ensure that they are equipped with the tools they need to advocate for justice, equity, and fairness. From promoting police accountability to protecting immigrants, from safeguarding reproductive rights to rethinking approaches to juvenile justice, our work is as urgent as ever—and our impact is being felt in communities across the country.
Here’s how we’ve turned our mission into action this year:
Rethinking Approaches to Juvenile Justice
This September, the IIP brought together a diverse group of prosecutors, stakeholders, and leading juvenile justice experts for a convening on improving prosecutorial strategies for juvenile justice. We welcomed trauma experts, defense attorneys, academics, community advocates, and people with lived experience in the juvenile justice system for a series of intimate conversations on crucial juvenile justice topics. Our convening dug into issues like the harms of youth sex offender registries, the importance of keeping young people out of the adult system, disrupting pipelines to justice system engagement, and how prosecutors can take steps to prevent and address wrongful convictions of youth. We heard from many of our attendees about how impactful this convening was, and how it has led many prosecutors to rethink their approaches.
In the new year, we will harness the momentum of this convening to scale up our pilot programs and equip our prosecutor partners with research, strategic guidance, and support to promote rehabilitation for youth and prevent recidivism.
Pursuing Justice for Immigrant Communities - Pilot Program Update
In April, the IIP convened elected prosecutors, defense attorneys, academics, and immigration advocates to explore how prosecutors can protect immigrant communities. We discussed strategies for increasing immigrant communities’ trust in the legal system, creating policies to mitigate immigration consequences, and supporting immigrant survivors of crime.
Shortly after the convening, we partnered with several prosecutors’ offices as part of our new immigration pilot programs. We are working with these offices alongside immigration experts to develop immigration policies and trainings promoting fairness and safety for immigrant communities. We are also finalizing a comprehensive best practices guide for prosecutors who are committed to protecting immigrants in their communities. Stay tuned for updates in the new year about our forthcoming publication and our ongoing pilot projects!
Defending the Future of Prosecutorial Discretion and Independence
In October, the IIP co-sponsored a symposium on discretion in the legal system at Berkeley Law School. The IIP co-sponsored the symposium with the Berkeley Criminal Law & Justice Center and the ABA Taskforce on Prosecutorial Independence. The symposium explored the role of discretion in charging decisions, sentencing outcomes, decisions in cases involving immigration consequences, as well as the recent political weaponization of prosecutorial discretion.
IIP Executive Director Rachel Marshall was a panelist on the session around politics, and warned against the dangers of mounting preemption tactics targeting reform-minded prosecutors.
State’s Attorney (and IIP Board Member) Kim Foxx keynoted the symposium, offering compelling reflections about her time leading the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and the future of prosecutorial discretion.
Hear former State’s Attorney Kim Foxx talk about the attacks on forward-thinking prosecutors that have mounted in recent years:
The IIP has continued to work to protect prosecutorial discretion throughout this year. IIP Executive Director Rachel Marshall sits on the ABA Taskforce on Prosecutorial Independence. We filed two amicus briefs opposing an antidemocratic system of prosecutor control in Georgia, and we have drafted multiple op-eds about the importance of preserving prosecutorial discretion. As Project 2025 promises to level a litany of antidemocratic attacks against reform-oriented prosecutors, the IIP will continue to champion the rights of local prosecutors to make decisions reflective of the interests of their communities.
Symposium on Guns in America: Criminalization, Consequences, and Innovative Responses
In partnership with the Vera Institute of Justice, the IIP recently hosted a two-day virtual symposium offering a comprehensive overview of the gun epidemic in the United States and exploring strategies prosecutors and communities can use to address the intertwined crises of gun violence and mass incarceration. The diverse array of panelists discussed root causes, impacts, and potential solutions to the multifaceted problems of gun criminalization, illegal gun possession, and gun violence.
Our symposium included a panel moderated by IIP executive director Rachel Marshall and featuring State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, Jarrell Daniels, and Professor Matt Epperson, which explored innovative approaches to gun charge prosecutions and the impressive data underscoring their success. Check out our resource guide for key resources and examples of pioneering programs.
Future of Criminal Justice Reform
With many critics casting doubt on the future of criminal justice reform in the wake of the 2024 elections, the IIP is firm in our belief that the future of criminal justice reform remains bright. IIP Executive Director Rachel Marshall published an op-ed in Newsweek challenging the false narrative that criminal justice reform died after the 2024 election cycle. Highlighting historic wins in jurisdictions across the country, strong public support for reform policies, and progress already being made in prosecutors’ offices around the nation, Marshall outlined the IIP’s vision for the road ahead.
Monthly Webinar Updates
Throughout the year, the IIP has hosted monthly webinars that highlight pioneering prosecutors, criminal justice experts, and community-based organizations discussing urgent public safety challenges and solutions. We will continue to provide comprehensive trainings for our diverse, national audience.
Recent webinar topics include: improving prosecutorial strategies on misdemeanor cases, rethinking approaches to juvenile sex crimes, how prosecutors can protect the vote, and making strides in police oversight and accountability.
Watch all of our webinars at www.prosecution.org/webinars and be sure to sign up at www.prosecution.org to ensure you don’t miss future events.
Stay Tuned: Mayor-Prosecutor Initiative
This fall, we began preparing for the launch of a new hallmark project, the Mayor Prosecutor Initiative (MPI). In partnership with the National League of Cities, we are bringing together mayors and prosecutors from cities around the country who are committed to developing coordinated strategies to address public safety challenges in their communities. Through in person convenings, collaborative policy implementation, and intensive engagement with researchers, the MPI will engage mayors and prosecutors in working together to adopt validated policy interventions in response to urgent problems in their communities.
Stay tuned for more updates as we look to formally launch the MPI next spring!
Although 2024 has certainly brought challenges to our field, we nonetheless remain hopeful for the future and proud of the progress we made over the past year. Throughout 2025 and beyond, we will continue our mission to empower prosecutors with the tools and resources needed to enact durable, data-proven solutions that promote public safety and justice.